Youth gets 10 years jail for kidnapping, raping minor girl

New Delhi: A youth has been jailed for 10 years by a Delhi court for kidnapping and raping a minor girl living in his neighbourhood.

The court sentenced 23-year-old Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Shahbad Dairy here, to rigorous jail term and held that the 13-year-old victim's statement was clear, trustworthy and inspired confidence.

"There is nothing in her statement to suggest that she had any animus against the accused to falsely implicate him in the case," Additional Sessions Judge Mahesh Chander Gupta said and also imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on Rakesh.

The court also observed, "The sight cannot be lost of the fact that Indian women have tendency to conceal offence of sexual assault because it involves her prestige as well as prestige of her family. Only in few cases, the victim girl or the family members have courage to go before the police and lodge a case."

According to the prosecution, on the morning of March 5, 2011, when the minor girl was going to her school in Metro Vihar in north west Delhi, Rakesh asked her to accompany him. He then took her to a secluded place where he raped her, police said. When the girl did not return home, her father lodged a complaint at Shahbad Dairy Police Station and the next day, they found their daughter crying near their house.

She narrated the incident to her parents and told them that Rakesh had raped her following which they took her to the police station, it said, adding that later on the youth was arrested.

During the trial, Rakesh claimed innocence and said he was falsely implicated The court, however, held him guilty of kidnapping, inducing the girl for illicit sexual intercourse and raping the minor and said, "The testimony of the victim on careful perusal and analysis is found to be clear, natural, convincing, trustworthy and inspiring confidence. Version of this witness on the core spectrum of the crime has remained intact".